Voters Cast Their Ballots With the Economy in Mind, Exit Polls Indicate

By

Bob Davis

Updated Nov. 5, 2008 12:01 a.m. ET

Sen. Barack Obama owed his election victory to voters' concerns about the faltering economy and their deep discomfort with the direction the country is heading.

About six in 10 voters said the economy was the No. 1 issue on their minds, followed by the war in Iraq and terrorism, each picked by roughly 10% of those polled after voting. Voters who focused on economic issues favored Sen. Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain 53% to 45%.

Full Exit Poll Data

According to the exit poll, those who chose Iraq as their top issue favored Sen. Obama by a larger margin than those motivated primarily by the economy, indicating that the issue had become most important to opponents of the war. Voters who picked terrorism as the top issue favored Sen. McCain by a 6-to-1 margin, however.

In 2004, voters were split between terrorism and the economy as their top issue. Each was selected by about 20% of respondents.

Another edge for Sen. Obama was the change in identification by political party. According to the exit polling, Democrats led Republicans by about 39% to 33% this year. In the 2004 presidential election, the electorate was split evenly -- 37% each for Democrats and Republicans. Independents made up the rest of the electorate.

The composition of the voting public was roughly the same as it was in 2004, with a couple of slight, but important, differences. Black voters were a slightly larger percentage of the electorate, 13%, than they were in 2004, when they accounted for 11% of the electorate. Black voters favored Sen. Obama 96% to 3%.

Also, voters between the ages of 18 and 29 made up more of the electorate this year, according to the poll, conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for a consortium of news organizations. They represented 18% of the electorate this year, one percentage point more than in 2004. Those voters favored Sen. Obama by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

Latino voters remained at 8% of the electorate and backed Sen. Obama at a more than 2-to-1 margin. That is about a 13-percentage-point smaller tally for Sen. McCain, despite his support for immigration reform, than President George W. Bush garnered four years ago.

The two presidential candidates spent much of their time on the campaign trail lauding their plans for tax cuts. But according to the exit polls, voters weren't impressed. About half those polled said they thought their taxes would go up no matter who was elected.

The views on taxes mirrored the deep pessimism of the electorate on economic issues. About three-quarters of the respondents said the country was headed in the wrong direction. Two-thirds were worried about being unable to afford health care. None of those polled said the country's economy was in excellent shape. More than 90% said the economy either wasn't doing well or was doing poorly.

At least 130 million Americans were expected to vote in this year's election. However, the process wasn't smooth for everyone. Wall Street Journal Reporters weigh in from polling stations around the U.S. Larry Smith/EPA

Election Day

The issue of Sen. McCain's age and Sen. Obama's race may have canceled each other out. About one in 10 voters said race was an important factor in their selection -- although the poll didn't make clear whether this represented voters unwilling to vote for blacks, or blacks choosing Sen. Obama because of his race. About 15% said age was important to them. At 72 years old, Sen. McCain would have been the oldest person to be inaugurated president.

Looking at the electorate by education, college graduates broke for Sen. Obama by a larger margin than voters without college degrees.

A breakdown by income found that Sen. Obama had a big lead in voters from families with incomes of less than $50,000 and broke about even with Sen. McCain on voters with higher incomes. White working-class male voters -- long considered the toughest group for Sen. Obama -- went heavily for Sen. McCain.

White Protestant evangelicals, about one-fourth of the electorate, broke 3-to-1 for Sen. McCain, although he received about five percentage points less support than Mr. Bush received four years ago. Catholics, about 26% of the electorate, favored Sen. McCain by about eight percentage points. Jewish voters, just 2% of the electorate but an important constituency in the swing state of Florida, went by almost a 4-to-1 margin for Sen. Obama nationally, according to the polls.

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